farangkel

As a matter of interest, backpackers here in Australia spend far more per head than any other tourists.

Cheers, and good luck with your learning experience...

I travelled Australia and the backpackers i met had little arms and deep pockets, maybe they spend more in the 6 months there then a ordinary tourist spends in 2 weeks.

Back to the OP many expats of all persuasions i meet do seem to have the gained the secret of life and know more about the human condition that us mere tourists. As many have been bitten by a bar girl they seem to be rude and very resentful to these girls and for some reason still like to drink in their company.

The one thing that i find most amusing about many younger expats (under 35) is that they now believe themselves to be gods gift to women and have no fear approaching any girl. Was in a nightclub last week when some fool who could never get a girl back home started playing the stud to one of the girls i was with, they way she teased him then made him look silly with one of the best knock backs i have ever seen really did make me smile.

I am glad I am an older expat (over 35), but that doesnt explain why you were in a Thai nightclub, nothing to do with your pulling ability back home? Kidding

So, because your friend acts like a jerk, there is somehow something in Thailand's water that made him that way? Different people act and react to their lives in different ways and usually the responsiblity for actions lies completely with the individual. Nothing to do with how Thailand "affects" people. Everything to do with your friend. He could act the same way if he'd been living in Argentina or Dubai.

Jimjim,,jim...

Your answer while well intentioned sounds like it could have come from someone working in a Thai culture ministry. Perhaps Thailands has had its affects on you, me and others. Is that affect or effect, nevermind.

I could see the quote now from Khun such and such, department of silly walk,,,

"Thailand is very popular around the world with many peoples who want to come here and live work and holiday. Last year we had 13 million visitors and this year we expect 16 million because Thailand is so popular around the world with many peoples. However, we only want high quality tourists who will tell the world that its the best place in the world. But sometimes we get bad people who come to Thailand to do bad things because we are so open, free and libel, I mean liberal. We cant control those who come here and after a while think they are more superior than others, what can i say it happens to us all."

Personally I avoid the food centers some are very dirty. On a recent trip with the kids we spotted several RODENTS run around the food area . Not to mention the employee from a major (brand name company) food supplier didn't watchup after using the toilet.

Kinda like my last post but I couldnt resist.

It's not the rodents I saw running around the food area that concern me, it's the one's that are unaccounted for that really concern me.

They can decrease the portion size.

That is already happening.. My wife is taking two noodles when one was enough before.. and before you go making fat jokes.. my little girl is light as feather and skinny.

My wife is all of 43 kilos and eats like a horse (envious) without the weight gain. It's not the two noodles that concern me, its the two packs of smoked salmon instead of one.

Firstly, I dont know Drew or MrRoomfinder but i can tell you that its probably the most comprehensive site I have come across as far as photos and variety goes. Much better than most I have seen in Bangkok.

I am looking for a place right now and unlike others who bitch and moan about webmasters / apartment building owners that dont update their info on a daily basis, my wife is making a few calls around real estate agents to see what is CURRENTLY available.

It has been more productive to call a few real esate agents and get them to send me a list of potential properties that are currently available based on my chosen criteria. From the list we set up an appointment to go visit the ones i have chosen, feel free to use more than one agent.

If I am going fork over 2 months deposit anyway, I might as well get a real estate agent to do some homework, take me to visit the apartments to earn their half of the commission.

Drew's site, like others found advertising apartments in Bangkok for rent cant be compared to say an individual advertising his / her own flat in a classified ad. They serve a purpose but unless you had a staff of a hundred on the phone calling each apartment building each day so the website is 100% update, you are sh+t out of luck.

For those out there looking for an apartment why don't u place your own classified with your own detailed specs so those with apartments could contact you instead of moaning that rental websites are not up to date. Better yet, get off you butt and go look around town yourself.

Hi Eff:

I believe my wife called you and will come by and see it. We can discuss the other stuff following that.

Thanks much,

James

An old trick that i used to do when trying to weigh my dog. First I get on the scale and weigh myself. Next I grab my dog and repeat. I minus the two to come up with the difference. I suspect this would be an easier exercise with a suitcase. Even if your scale isnt exact, the difference between the two weights shouldnt be off by much.

Using monty python logic, if my dog weighs as much as your suitcase, it must be overweight and therefore is a witch, in which case will need to buy a seat for itself.

Tell you relatives to pack their money and a passport, leave that other crap at home. Really, do you need 5 pairs of shoes to walk on the beach?

Some good suggestions so far, but sadly, except for the fish weighing scales, none I hadn't already thought of. I also appreciated the couple of posts about Air Asia being strict. My Thai wife (well Esarn, Isahn, Isan,Isarn?)and I are not worried about the weight at all. It's just my brother and his rather corpulent American wife (who thinks she needs a full wardrobe daily), who I'm sure will be overweight - the luggage that is! She emailed me and said that the American air carrier allows about 100 lbs per person on their flights for their luggage? She says she is trying to pare her baggage weight down to stay under that! Wow. I think it would be fair if Air Asia weighed her physically, and then allowed the rest of us to make up our reduced weights by letting us carry on/check the difference in weight between us and her? Ok, enough of the joking around. I do sometimes think about the major weight differences between people on planes though. Maybe they should charge by total weight (person plus baggage) or make them buy 2 tickets if they add up to more than say - 250 lbs? This should fire up our friends who are larger than most, and also the Yank bashers!

In my 38 yrs here in Thailand, I've never found the cheapo bathroom scales to be even close to accurate. I even went to Tony's gym and used the 4 sets of scales I found there to weigh a bag, and came up with a 7 kilo difference between the scales. That even includes the medical type balance scale. Same at the Thai market behind my house. I haven't found any hotels yet who have scales, at least not near any of the pubs I was at. Spoke with one of postmasters I've known for a long time and he told me I could come in after hours and weigh the bags there for free. We all know how that works out in final tally; somehow tipping to his advantage somewhere along the line. Still looking for some fish scales that I can afford here in Pattaya. I am leaning toward finding somehow to weigh the bags prior to going to the airport now since that is leaving it a bit late if enough stuff can't be shuffled around to come within the weight limits. Happened that way to my wife and I when we went to New Zealand on holiday last year. We were allowed I think 30KG's on Thai Air, then when flying from Aukland to Christchurch on Air New Zealand we got stung with fairly heavy baggage charges. Another problem is: we are taking 4 different Air Asia flights, so whatever is overweight has to be multiplied X4. If my brother and his wife were not flying straight back to the USA after our Cambodia junket, we could leave the excess baggage here at my house, but they are going straight back. I did search the threads for storage at the airport and found it was reported to be 100 baht per bag per day and that there was a lot of theft at stored baggage.

And before anyone mentions the obvious; I already told my brother to cut down on the kilo's he brings with him - by throwing away his wife's ticket!

So, thanks so far for the suggestions. Hope somebody can come up with more suggestions for us. TIA

This "Visa company" is taking you for a ride. All you need is:

• Affirmation to marry and original Affidavit letter from your embassy (get these translated and certified at the MFA) - Cost depends on embassy, Tanslation should cost no more than 500 Baht, MFA costs 800 baht.
  
• Copy of passport and visa
  
• Copy of her ID card
  
• Copy of her House Registration (Tabien Bahn)
  

Take 2 witnesses or you can pay the officials enough for lunch and they will do it for you (about 300 Baht)

I did it all a few weeks ago and it cost under 5000 Baht to do everything, including transport fees.

ps. She does not need to go home to get anything, if she doesn't have a copy of her Tabien Bahn, she can get a printout done at the office in Bangkok where you get married.

Agreed. First go to your embassy's website to find out what you need. Do your declaration form (1700 baht) at my embassy - took 1 hour, then off to have it translated (400 baht) Take the translated documents to MFA to be certified (800 baht for rush 2 hours) then off to Bang Rak with her stuff. Officially married in 2 days. I then had the Marriage documents translated into English (400baht) before getting them notarized at my embassy again (1700) baht. Done dusted.

My wife is from Bangkok so it may have been a bit easier than one from upcountry but either way 15000 baht is over the top, especially when you have to pay for all the paperwork extra.

You can pick them out so easily: the Tourist and the Expat. One is wide-eyed with wonder, the latter has the been-there-done-that cynical expression.

Peter

what does that make you Peter?

The thing that gets me is that people are surprised that manners and politeness are somehow expected to be found in nightclubs near closing time = chances are someone got drunk and that someone started to grab or push a girl on the dance floor and therefore encountered the wrath of the management. This is not unique to Asia, so get over it.

As for the elevator comments, this one I agree with, it seems really odd to me that Thais (Asians in general) feel the need to a) rush the lift before it takes off with nobody on it and realize that the up arrow means up and the down arrow means going down. BTW this is not unique to Thailand. Even the so called hi tech Japanese and Taiwanese suffer from this phenomenom. They can build em but they don't know how to use em.

As for 711, this one used to drive me crazy, you stand in line and some highly educated Thai with an orange vest on(kidding) thinks its his right to jump in front of everyone. I used to get quite cross with this but figured that there is no chance in hel_l I can educate the uneducatable so I let them jump in. What you may try to do once is awhile is hold a door open for someone in Bangkok and see how they react. Most are quite surprised that you didnt slam it shut in their face as you walked through.

I seem to once remember hearing a story about a small fight breaking out in a British nightclub. What does this tell us about Western culture?

As an old bangkok hand I should have known better, but last year i was walking near the pantip area (opposite side near Pratunam) and there are areas of the sidewalk that are impassible with hords of people. I was walking with a mate of mine and noticed that my wallet was lifted, but unlike the afformentioned thief, I believe the crooks in this area are female.

Stupid as it may sound, but having a female push up behind me didn't draw my suspicion. Needless to say the Tourist police had nothing to offer other than with a chuckle "you need to be careful, this area very bad". Lucky for me I live here so replacing the credit cards, bank cards was relatively painless (except bangkok bank of course) but can only imagine what tourists go through when this happens to them.

I for one now put my wallet in a front pocket when around these types of crowds - the way I figure it, if some gal is gonna reach in there to take it, she will be the one in for a surprise.

Thanks for the heads up and a reminder that the Thai Security or Police will not be helpfull when you need them.

That punk needs his face smashed in.

Eff:

Any word on when those bts stations will actually open? Also, do you plan to put furniture in the room?

Thanks

James

As a smoker, I can see merits in both sides.

But all I ask for is a level playing field. If we are gonna ban smoking in bars and public places such as 'outdoor' parks etc, then why cant we do something about the unseen health effects of second hand car exhaust inhalation.

Unlike non smokers who can choose not to enter a smoky bar, the general public is forced to leave their homes (to go to work perhaps) and be subjected to millions of cars in bangkok spewing cancer causing, ozone depleating chemicals day after to day - yet without a word of protest from the lobby that apparently cares so much about my / their health, and the side effects of being exposed to tobacco smoke.

But unlike leaving a smoky bar, I can't escape the effects of second hand car smoke because it is everywhere, 24/7, 365 days a week. Don't take my word for it, ask a traffic cop (this example is for those concerned with the health and welfare of employees being forced to work in a smoky environment). Just because your Honda, doesn't spew your unseen pollutants inside the pub I like to go to, doesnt mean your Honda isnt spewing cancer causing chemicals in the faces of me, my family, my coworkers and millions of others - shame on you!!!

So in conclusion, if smoking is so bad and of such a risk to the health of smokers and non-smokers alike, then ban it period. But for those banging the drum of the anti-smoking lobby on the pretext of health concerns alone, I wonder if you will park your SUV and start riding your bicycle to work to demonstrate your commitment to the health of others.

Thanks,

james

Smokers should be deported if they break the law.

a bit harsh, don't you think?

you don't mean that....surely

Gone are the days of Crucifixtion, unfortunately.

Suszzy, there's nobody as harsh on smokers, as ex-smokers!

Now that they have done everything but basically make smoking illegal, when will they turn their attention to the millions of polluting, cancer causing automobiles that are choking the lives of millions of people everyday - but yet go unpunished?

If I choose to walk into a smoky nightclub - at least I had a say in the matter to expose my self to the risks involved, on the other hand, due to the fact that people have to commute to work everyday to survive (ie -not much choice in the matter), we are all subjected to much much much more air pollution caused by cars, trucks and buses. cough cough.

If we are gonna roll out the moral / health police for the betterment of all mankind, let's add the auto industry to the list of targets. But as we all know, that won't happen because nobody has every died from lung cancer or other lung related diseases from 40 years of sucking on the tailpipe of your friendly neighborhood Toyota. The fact that they smoke a cigarette in high school "has" to be the reason for their illness.

Pure hypochracy.

I wish they'd just close this and the elite card down.

Like a broken record.

OMG

you rant like a guy looking to jump of a balcony, raging the world is gonna end

OMG, you reply to a guy that rants, why do you care.

Want something to rant at...?

Ok try this. Typical of this place - TLM, Elite, Bangkok Fashion Week and on and on, are all examples of everything that could be good here gone wrong.

The locals are very good at telling everybody they are gonna be the hub of this and that - throw a big splashy party and press conference - find a few suckers to pay for it - and then abandon it. Lots of flash - no substance.

What are we the hub of this week? I agree with the guy who said shut them down. They are a complete embarrasment to actual good long term projects based on welcoming foreigners to stay here and spend here over the long term - you know like the new spousal 800,000 baht requirement. Oops, sorry did we not say we can change the rules as we choose to screw more money out of you farangs?

Credibility, trust and transparency (yes I did say transparency) are earned - not bought, bartered or PR'd.

Sooner or late someone will wake up and say "These fancy TAT arrival figures don't seem to match what every business owner connected to the industry is saying. I wonder who does the accounting? More to the point, TAT states that while the arrival figures are up YOY, hotel occupany is down big time because we have so many more hotels." Hmmm. Pretty quick answer and quite frankly almost had me fooled into thinking that all the empty restaurants , hotels around the country were in fact full with all those tourists that are staying in newly built hotels - the ones in places like Vietnam, Malaysia, and others.

Can we get some real data? Actual, verifiable numbers that both the private and public sector can agree on?

Perhaps Mr H can call up a friend and get those across to us by noon?

Anyways, have a good Friday everyone.

this website sure brings out the many whinging foreigners frustrated in their lives living in los

It's easy to get frustrated when you live in Thailand as a Westerner.

But Womble is bang on. Get rid of these two disasterous projects immediately before more of this country's coffers are squandered.

its not even an important news article for anybody

yet you guys are treating it as some opportunity to rant and rage like a couple of negative old whinging farts

and by the way, the countries coffers are being raped, pillaged by the many thai generals along with their lovely bugdet increases.

It certainly could be an important news article for somebody. Who are you to judge?

There's certainly a lot of negatives about these two projects though. Time for both to be scrapped.

longstay is not the elite

at least get your negative comments in tact

longstay is part of a listed company on the set, that is the purpose of the tat having to give a press conference on their shareholding.

and is this news article such a life and death scenerio for your seemingly frustrated life in los?

or are you just using this useless bit of news as an excuse to rant on tv

The only one ranting on this thread is you.

For such a "useless bit of news" you seem to be getting rather worked up about a couple of throwaway comments on it.

Perhaps time for a lie down?

i am enjoying replying to guys like you who use any excuse to rage their negativity on tv

oh

and what happened to this useless bit of news article being soooooo important to you, that now you seemingly whimper in the distance